Creamy cranberry chicken salad with pecans, green onions, and a little ground pepper to make the flavors pop, Ready in under 30 minutes!
Cranberry chicken pecan salad is a super easy brunch recipe with croissants or on sliced Soft Fluffy French Bread with romaine lettuce or kale on top. Delicious!
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I love chicken salad because it's so easy to make ahead for family get togethers, brunch, or holidays! It's one of my favorite rotisserie chicken salads (along with Lemon Chicken Caesar Salad) because it's so quick and easy.
There is NO Mayo, NO celery, and NO added sweeteners in this chicken salad recipe, although you can definitely add some of them if you like. We love this one around Easter and Thanksgiving because of the cranberries and pecans.
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What To Expect
- Taste: Savory with a little sweetness from the cranberries, and crunch from the pecans.
- Ease: Beginner recipe, no cooking required!
- Time: Takes 10 minutes to mix together, and another 5-10 minutes to assemble the sandwiches.
🛒 Key Ingredients
- Chicken - rotisserie or canned chicken can be used, or pre-cooked shredded chicken.
- Cranberries - using dried cranberries is best, they can be sweetened or unsweetened.
- Green onions - add flavor and color to the chicken salad! You can always use less or leave them out if you don't like onions.
- Cream Cheese - adds both flavor and creaminess to the salad.
- Sour Cream - less greasy than mayonnaise and adds much needed flavor and liquid to the chicken salad so it's not dense.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Cream Cheese - I usually use fat free or ⅓ fat, but full fat can be used as well.
- Sour Cream - can be switched out with light mayonnaise or regular mayonnaise. I don't recommend greek yogurt, it can have too strong of a taste. You can always try a little unsweetened plain yogurt and see how it does!
- Cranberries - can be swapped out with red or green grapes sliced into quarters, raisins, or even a shredded apple!
- Add celery or chopped up sweet or dill pickles for even more flavor!
🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. In a small bowl, combine hot water and cranberries to soak for 5-10 minutes.
- Step 2. Soften the cream cheese using the microwave or hot water (if it's unopened). Combine the chopped chicken, sour cream, and cream cheese and mix well.
- Step 3. Add in the green onions, pepper, salt, softened cranberries, and chopped pecans.
- Step 4. Assemble the sandwiches: slice croissants lengthwise and scoop chicken salad onto the bottom half of each croissant.
- Step 5. Top with a piece of lettuce and the top half of the croissant. Serve sliced or whole. Enjoy!
📌 Top Tips & Hacks
- Pre-soak your cranberries in hot water or juice so that they're nice and soft in the chicken salad.
- Make sure your cream cheese is softened! It makes it so much easier to mix into the chicken.
- You may need to add a little water or milk to your chicken salad depending on if you use rotisserie chicken, shredded pre cooked chicken, or canned chicken. Rotisserie chicken tends to be more dry than canned, so it may need a little more help!
❓Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! A great substitution is sliced almonds.
Sliced quartered red or green grapes or even raisins is a good switch, or a shredded apple would work as well.
I would use 4 (12 oz) cans of drained canned chicken to replace the 3 cups of cooked or rotisserie shredded chicken.
🍗 More Easy Chicken Recipes
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📝 Printable Recipe
Cranberry Chicken Pecan Salad
Ingredients
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup hot tap water 240 mL
- 4 cups chopped chicken 520 g or 3 (12.5 oz) cans
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup sour cream 128 g
- ½ cup green onions, chopped 42 g
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped pecans 122 g
- 6 large croissants
- 6 lettuce leaves to serve
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine hot water and cranberries to soak for 5-10 minutes, then drain well.
- Soften the cream cheese using the microwave or hot water (if it's unopened). Combine the chopped chicken, sour cream, and cream cheese and mix well.
- Add in the softened cranberries, green onions, pepper, salt, and chopped pecans.
- Assemble the sandwiches: slice croissants lengthwise and scoop chicken salad onto the bottom half of each croissant.
- Top with a piece of lettuce and the top half of the croissant.
- Serve sliced in half (serves 12) or whole (serves 6). Enjoy!
Notes
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- Pre-soak your cranberries in hot water or juice so that they're nice and soft in the chicken salad.
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- Make sure your cream cheese is softened! It makes it so much easier to mix into the chicken.
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- You may need to add a little water or milk to your chicken salad depending on if you use rotisserie chicken, shredded pre cooked chicken, or canned chicken. Rotisserie chicken tends to be a little more dry and might need a little more help.
Nutrition
Hi, I'm Sara!
Registered Nurse by day, food blogger by weekend. Perfect dip tester & snack quester. I love short walks on the beach and long naps. Sharing my love for food, one bite at a time.
Sara says
I really like the cranberries, better than grapes and freezes better. Delicious with sliced almonds too!